A problem during design of for example a ship, encountered today is that if for example a hull of a ship is manufactured with modern alloys and design, the hull becomes lightweight and strong. But the deck and the various vertical and horizontal walls used in the construction of a ship becomes heavy weight if standard design is used. Therefore, a need for lightweight and sturdy panels of various dimensions and areas exists.
A promising design for such panels is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 8,650,756 B2 which provides a solution that involves either extrusion of panels or additive/subtractive manufacturing. If extrusion is used the available materials for construction is rather limited and a lightweight alloy, such as an alumina alloy would be the most likely candidate. However, if the hull of the ship is manufactured in stainless-steel there is a problem related to joining alumina alloys and stainless steel. There exists an alternative to manufacture panels using additive/subtractive manufacturing, but this alternative is rather expensive if large panels are desired.
Furthermore, the truss design used in U.S. Pat. No. 8,650,756 B2 is rather weak and leaves room for improvement. One of its advantages is that the core of the sandwich material may be formed by bending a metal net to a pyramidal lattice. It is well known in solid mechanics that this truss structure is far from optimal from a structural strength point of view, for example if one of the base corners of the pyramidal lattice is subjected to momentum.
It is an object of the present invention to provide a solution that is compatible with modern ship design that involves lightweight hulls.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a more robust and sturdy sandwich construction that simultaneously provides very low density.
It is another object of the present invention to provide a sandwich construction that provides excellent resistance against corrosive agents or environments.